The 9:42 PM Eastern update last night from Charleston’s ABC News 4 dropped from their previous report the pair were arrested near a sensitive U.S. Naval base. That base, as well as an Army depot and Charleston Air Force Base are still nearby; News 4 just no longer mentions them:

Goose Creek [SC] – Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car. The quantity of explosive making materials in that vehicle is unclear. The FBI … reports that there is no known link to terrorism. The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office believes that among materials in the car’s trunk were a bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals, fuses, and igniters. The men 21-year-old Yousef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed were pulled over Saturday evening during a routine traffic stop near Myers Road and Highway 176. Few details about the suspects are known at this time. They are believed to be students at a Florida college. They are of Middle Eastern descent and are not US citizens. Neither man has been charged, but charges are expected Monday… The Berkeley County Sheriff’s office may confirm what exactly was found in that trunk during Monday’s press conference.

Charleston’s The Post and Courier mentioned yesterday that the brig at the nearby Naval base held “enemy combatants.” In addition, CAIR, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, had their say:

GOOSE CREEK — Two men detained and expected to be charged for carrying explosives in the trunk of a car Saturday are not suspected of orchestrating a terrorist plot, authorities said Sunday. Meanwhile, an Islamic community leader from Tampa, Fla., whose been in touch with the families of the two detained college students told The Post and Courier that the men are not troublemakers and that they a were simply on a weekend trip to North Carolina… Authorities destroyed the device early Sunday morning and booked the driver and the passenger, both of Middle Eastern descent. By then, the FBI turned the case over to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office to investigate. Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization for Muslims, said the men arrested are Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24 — two University of South Florida students. Family members told Bedier they think the materials were leftover fireworks Megahed kept in his trunk since July 4. “Both of them are really naïve kids,” Bedier said. He said Megahed is a permanent legal resident of the United States and Mohamed was the passenger. Mohamed’s legal status was not known. Bedier said police will not tell them why they’re being held without charges.

Mr. Bedier knows very well why the pair are being “held without charges.” The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office has the authority to hold the two for a reasonable period of time while the investigation is being conducted.

The Post and Courier continued:

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Butch Henerey said they expect to charge the driver and passenger today. The charge is a state offense, and officials said they didn’t expect a federal charge to be filed. However, a terrorism task force is reviewing the evidence, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko. “At this point, it is too early in the investigation to say there is any link to terrorism,” Kolko said. Authorities declined to give any more details about the device or the men Sunday but said they expect to release more information during an 11:30 a.m. news conference… News that explosives were found Saturday shocked residents in and around Goose Creek, home to the Naval Weapons Station, which houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.

The report also mentions that, “A device was destroyed at the scene at about 4 a.m. The item made a loud bang similar to a firecracker.” Ideally, such demolitions in place are to destroy any suspected ignition device while preventing the explosive material from detonating. The explosive material is then removed to a safer location, examined, and destroyed.

The FBI leaving Berkeley County to investigate perhaps lends weight to Mr. Bedier’s implication these were just two men on a road trip with leftover fireworks in their trunk. Yet it was interesting to see someone from CAIR running to their defense and the press even before we know what the “bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals, fuses, and igniters” the police say the pair possessed turn out to be.